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Windows 7: More about ATI & nVidia DirectX 11 Cards

Radeon HD 5870, HD 5850 Are AMD's DirectX 11 Cards
Due out in September

The details on AMD's next generation of desktop graphics cards continue to hit the Internet, as we are approaching the much-anticipated moment when the Sunnyvale, California-based company will officially take the wraps off its first DirectX 11 cards. Following the pictures of the allegedly first AMD card with DirectX 11 support, we now have a couple of new details on the manufacturer's future graphics cards. Codenamed Cypress, AMD's upcoming DirectX 11 cards will be released under the Radeon HD 5800-series branding, with the Cypress XT boasting the Radeon HD 5870 name and the Cypress PRO to be known as the HD 5850.

According to a recent news-article that has surfaced on vr-zone, the new cards should be launched sometime next month, with availability slated for later in October, around the time when Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system is due out. There are a couple of technical details available on the new cards, but nothing related to core speed.

Among the main features that will be enabled on AMD's upcoming cards we need to highlight the following:

1GB GDDR5 memory

ATI Eyefinity technology with support for up to three displays

ATI Stream technology

Designed for DirectCompute 5.0 and OpenCL

Accelerated Video Transcoding (AVT)

Compliant with DirectX 11 and earlier revisions

Supports OpenGL 3.1

ATI CrossFireX multi-GPU support for highly scalable performance

ATI Avivo HD video and display technology

Dynamic power management with ATI PowerPlay technology

DL-DVI, DL-DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI

PCI Express 2.0 support

Many of the aforementioned specifications have been speculated on the Internet on previous occasions, as was the release date for these new cards. With the much-anticipated launch a couple of weeks ahead, more details are bound to emerge, including clock frequencies and quite possibly benchmark results of the new cards.

NVIDIA: Windows 7 and DirectX 11 the New Ultimate Power Gaming Platform
Because of DirectCompute

The latest iteration of the Windows client and the next generation of the OS’ graphics technology will deliver the new ultimate power gaming platform, according to Chris Daniel, product manager for software at NVIDIA. Windows 7 and DirectX 11 bring to the table the graphics processing unit (GPU) for computing, Daniel noted. In this context, Windows 7 no longer limits the graphical processing unit to just graphics. Instead, the successor of Windows Vista allows for a marriage between the CPU and the GPU for the creation of a co-processing environment.

“What makes this co-processing possible is one of the most significant additions Windows 7 brings: DirectCompute. DirectCompute enables applications in Windows 7 to take advantage of GPU Computing to accelerate applications. DirectCompute will be distributed as part of the DirectX 11 API and is fully supported by NVIDIA’s current lineup of DirectX 10 GPUs. Murray Vince, General Manager of the OEM Division at Microsoft was at Computex to discuss the new DirectCompute API in Windows 7,” Daniel explained.

In the videos embedded at the bottom of this article you will be able to see a real-time dynamic ocean simulation demonstration that leverages DirectCompute. That will be the kind of detail and realism possible with games developed for Windows 7. Gaming developers will be able to leverage DirectCompute as an integral component of the DirectX 11 application programming interface. NVIDIA’s DirectX 10 GPUs already support DirectCompute.

“DirectCompute will enable great consumer visual and interactive experiences such as new high-quality video and photo entertainment, simplified ways to interact with your devices, faster, more responsive PCs, and even new realistic gaming effects. DirectCompute is accelerated by today’s 200 million+ DirectX 10 GPUs and future DirectX 11 GPUs,” Daniel pointed out.

Windows 7, DirectX 11, DirectCompute and GPU computing are all ingredients of what NVIDIA referred to as the “new ultimate power gaming platform.” Gamers will have new experiences available, superior to everything available in previous Windows releases. Dynamic and physical environments with real time effects will bring the gaming experience to another level.

“Next generation PC Games are moving towards much more dynamic and immersive worlds that literally come to life: walls can be torn down, glass can be shattered, trees bend in the wind, and water flows with body and force,” Daniel added.

AMD cards Vs nVidia cards? Got very confused by a thingHi.. So my psu got messed up so i have now sent it in and using a old psu without pci-e power so i had to change out my GTX 660 to my old ATI Radeon 4650
Though the gtx 660 kicks donkey in gaming the Radeon is running flash games smoother and some other stuff to
Also a bit of a OpenCL vs CUDA war...